Method and apparatus to help promote contact of gas with vaporized material

ABSTRACT

Vaporizable material is supported within a vessel to promote contact of an introduced gas with the vaporizable material, and produce a product gas including vaporized material. A heating element supplies heat to a wall of the vessel to heat vaporizable material disposed therein. The vessel may comprise an amoule having a removable top. Multiple containers defining multiple material support surfaces may be stacked disposed within a vessel in thermal communication with the vessel. A tube may be disposed within the vessel and coupled to a gas inlet. Filters, flow meters, and level sensors may be further provided. Product gas resulting from contact of introduced gas with vaporized material may be delivered to atomic layer deposition (ALD) or similar process equipment. At least a portion of source material including a solid may be dissolved in a solvent, followed by removal of solvent to yield source material (e.g., a metal complex) disposed within the vaporizer.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/930,031, filed on Oct. 30, 2007 and issuing as U.S. Pat. No.7,487,956, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/858,509, filed on Jun. 1, 2004, and subsequently issued as U.S. Pat.No. 7,300,038, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/201,518, filed on Jul. 23, 2002 and subsequentlyissued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,062. This is also a continuationapplication of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/846,394 filed on Aug.28, 2007, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/858,509, filed on Jun. 1, 2004, and subsequently issued as U.S. Pat.No. 7,300,038, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/201,518, filed on Jul. 23, 2002 and subsequentlyissued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,062. The disclosures of the foregoingapplications and patents are hereby incorporated herein in theirrespective entireties, for all purposes, and the priority of all suchapplications is hereby claimed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 120.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

One or more embodiments described in this patent application relate tothe field of vaporizers.

BACKGROUND ART

A vaporizer may be used, for example, to deliver material in a carriergas to a process chamber of semiconductor processing equipment such as,for example, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) equipment to form a filmover a workpiece or an ion implanter to accelerate ions toward aworkpiece for injection into the workpiece.

One vaporizer called a bubbler delivers vapor from material in a liquidstate to a process chamber by heating the liquid material in a containerand introducing a carrier gas at a controlled rate into the liquidmaterial near the bottom of the container. The carrier gas then becomessaturated with vapor from the liquid material as the carrier gas bubblesto the top of the container. The saturated carrier gas is thentransported to the process chamber.

Vapor from material in a solid state may be delivered to a processchamber by heating the material to its sublimation temperature anddirecting the flow of a carrier gas past the heated material.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, the invention relates to a method utilizing a pluralityof containers, wherein each container of the plurality of containersdefines a cavity therein, the method including: introducing sourcematerial comprising a solid into the cavity of each container of theplurality of containers; dissolving at least a portion of the sourcematerial in a solvent; removing said solvent from said source material;and stacking said plurality of containers in a vaporizer ampoule.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a vapor delivery systemincluding: a plurality of containers, wherein each container of theplurality of containers defines therein a cavity, and the cavity of eachcontainer contains a solid source material and a solvent; and avaporizer ampoule adapted to receive said plurality of containers.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a vaporizer including: atleast one wall defining an internal compartment; and a solid sourcematerial disposed within the internal compartment, the solid sourcematerial comprising a metal complex processed by dissolution in asolvent followed by removal of the solvent under reduced pressure.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a method utilizing avaporizer including at least one wall defining an internal compartment,the method comprising: dissolving a solid source material in a solvent;and removing said solvent to yield a metal complex, wherein the metalcomplex is disposed within the internal compartment of the vaporizer.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a vaporizer comprising avessel having (i) a thermally conductive vessel wall enclosing aninterior volume, (ii) a gas inlet adapted to supply gas to the interiorvolume, (iii) a gas outlet adapted to receive gas carrying vaporizedmaterial from the interior volume, and (iv) a plurality of solidmaterial holders disposed at different levels within the vessel, whereineach solid material holder has a solid material support surface and athermally conductive holder sidewall adapted to be in substantialthermal contact with the vessel wall at a vessel operating temperature,and is adapted to hold a solid vaporizable material having a solid formcomprising any of particles, agglomerated particles, powders,crystalline material, loose material, and discontinuous material, andwherein the vessel is adapted to transfer heat through the vessel wallto the thermally conductive holder sidewall.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a method utilizing vaporizerapparatus comprising a vessel having (i) a thermally conductive vesselwall enclosing an interior volume, (ii) a gas inlet adapted to supplygas to the interior volume, (iii) a gas outlet adapted to receive gascarrying vaporized material from the interior volume, and (iv) aplurality of solid material holders disposed at different levels withinthe vessel, wherein each solid material holder has a solid materialsupport surface and a thermally conductive holder sidewall in contactwith the vessel wall, and contains a solid vaporizable material having asolid form comprising any of particles, agglomerated particles, powders,crystalline material, loose material, and discontinuous material, themethod comprising: (a) heating the vessel to vaporize at least a portionof the vaporizable material; (b) introducing a first gas to the vesselvia the gas inlet to contact the vaporizable material and produce asecond gas comprising vaporized material; and (c) delivering the secondgas comprising vaporized material to process equipment via the gasoutlet.

In a further aspect, the invention relates to a vapor delivery vesselfor vaporizing and delivering vaporized source material, the vesselcomprising: a peripheral vessel wall bounding an interior volume; a gasinlet and a gas outlet arranged in at least intermittent fluidcommunication with the interior volume, the gas inlet being adapted tosupply a first gas to the interior volume; and at least one supportsurface disposed within the interior volume and adapted to supportvaporizable source material in or along a flow path of said first gaswithin the interior volume; characterized by at least one of thefollowing: (a) the vessel wall is formed of any of a polymeric material,a ceramic material, a composite material, layered materials, and linedmaterials; (b) the support surface is defined by a support structuredisposed within the interior volume, wherein the support structure andthe peripheral vessel wall are formed of materials having differentcoefficients of thermal expansion, and are sized and shaped to be insubstantial thermal contact with one another at a vessel operatingtemperature; (c) the interior volume includes at least one gas-permeablebag supported by the at least one support surface and containing saidvaporizable source material; (d) the at least one support surfacecomprises a porous or aperture-defining element, and is adapted toreceive vaporizable material supplied by pouring; (e) the at least onesupport surface is defined by a plurality of different supportstructures adapted for placement at different levels within the interiorvolume, wherein each support structure has a sidewall, and at least twosupport structures of said plurality of support structures havedifferent sidewall heights; (f) the at least one support surface isdefined by a plurality of different support structures adapted forplacement at different levels within the interior volume, wherein atleast two support structures of said plurality of support structureshave supported thereon substantially different amounts of vaporizablesource material; (g) the at least one support surface is partitionedwith walls into a plurality of discrete support surface portions; (h)the vessel wall comprises a sight glass permitting observation ortransmission of radiation to permit identification of a condition whenany suitable region within the interior volume is empty or nearly emptyof vaporizable source material; (i) the vessel has an associated levelsensor adapted to permit identification of a condition when any suitableregion within the interior volume is empty or nearly empty ofvaporizable source material; and (j) the vessel has an associated purgeelement and at least one bypass passage, bypass inlet, or bypass outletadapted to permit solid deposits or contaminants to be purged from thevessel or any conduit in fluid communication therewith.

At least one disclosed apparatus comprises a container and structure tohelp support material in the container with an increased exposed surfacearea to help promote contact of a gas with vaporized material. Thestructure for at least one disclosed apparatus may help support materialfor vaporization in the same form as when the material is placed at thestructure.

At least one disclosed apparatus comprises a container and structure tohelp support material in the container with an increased exposed surfacearea to help promote contact of a gas with vaporized material fordelivery to atomic layer deposition (ALD) process equipment.

At least one disclosed apparatus comprises a container and structure tohelp support liquid material in the container with an increased exposedsurface area to help promote contact of a gas with vaporized liquidmaterial.

At least one disclosed apparatus comprises a container and one or moreholders that define a support surface to help support material in thecontainer with an increased exposed surface area to help promote contactof a gas with vaporized material. A holder for at least one disclosedapparatus may have one or more sidewalls along at least a portion of aperimeter of an opening through the support surface of the holder tohelp define a passageway through which gas may flow through the holder.

At least one disclosed apparatus comprises a container and one or moreholders that define a support surface to help support material in thecontainer with an increased exposed surface area to help promote contactof a gas with vaporized material. A holder for at least one disclosedapparatus may have one or more walls and one or more passageways withinone or more walls to allow gas to flow through the holder.

At least one disclosed apparatus comprises a container and one or moreholders that define a support surface to help support material in thecontainer with an increased exposed surface area to help promote contactof a gas with vaporized material. A holder for at least one disclosedapparatus may define a support surface at least a portion of which isover at least partially permeable material through which gas may flow.

At least one disclosed method comprises heating a container to helpvaporize material in the container, introducing gas into the container,and delivering gas resulting from contact of introduced gas withvaporized material to process equipment. The container for at least onedisclosed method may have structure to help support material in thecontainer with an increased exposed surface area to help promote contactof a gas with vaporized material. The structure for at least onedisclosed method may help support material for vaporization in the sameform as when the material is placed at the structure.

At least one disclosed method comprises heating a container to helpvaporize material in the container, introducing gas into the container,delivering gas resulting from contact of introduced gas with vaporizedmaterial to atomic layer deposition process equipment, and performing anatomic layer deposition process using the delivered gas. The containerfor at least one disclosed method may have structure to help supportmaterial in the container with an increased exposed surface area to helppromote contact of a gas with vaporized material.

In another aspect, any of the foregoing aspects may be combined foradditional advantage.

Other aspects, features and embodiments of the invention will be morefully apparent from the ensuing disclosure and appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One or more embodiments are illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which likereferences indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates, for one or more embodiments, a system using avaporizer that helps promote contact of a gas with vaporized material;

FIG. 2 illustrates, for one or more embodiments, a flow diagram for gasdelivery in the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates, for one example embodiment, a perspective, brokenview of a vaporizer container having holders to help promote contact ofa gas with vapor from material supported by the holders;

FIG. 4 illustrates, for one example embodiment, a perspective view of aholder;

FIG. 5 illustrates, for one example embodiment, a cross-sectional viewof a holder positioned over another holder;

FIG. 6 illustrates, for another example embodiment, a perspective,exploded view of a holder positioned over another holder;

FIG. 7 illustrates, for another example embodiment, a perspective,exploded view of a holder positioned over another holder;

FIG. 8 illustrates, for another example embodiment, a perspective viewof a holder; and

FIG. 9 illustrates, for one or more embodiments, a system using thevaporizer container of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION, AND PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS THEREOF

FIG. 1 illustrates, for one or more embodiments, a system 100 thatdelivers a desired gas from a vaporizer 110 to process equipment 120coupled to vaporizer 110. Vaporizer 110 vaporizes material, receives agas from a gas source 130 coupled to vaporizer 110, and helps deliver toprocess equipment 120 gas resulting from contact of the received gaswith vaporized material. Vaporizer 110 supports material to be vaporizedto help increase exposed surface area of material to be vaporized tohelp promote contact of the received gas with vaporized material.

By helping to promote contact of the received gas with vaporizedmaterial, vaporizer 110 for one or more embodiments may be used to helpdeliver the resulting gas to process equipment 120 at relatively higherflow rates.

Vaporizer 110 for one or more embodiments may be used to deliver adesired gas to process equipment 120 in accordance with a flow diagram200 of FIG. 2.

For block 202 of FIG. 2, material to be vaporized is supported in acontainer of vaporizer 110 to help increase exposed surface area ofmaterial to be vaporized.

Vaporizer 110 may be used to vaporize any suitable material in anysuitable one or more states and/or in any suitable one or more forms.The material to be vaporized for one or more embodiments may depend atleast in part, for example, on the process or operation to be performedby process equipment 120.

Vaporizer 110 for one or more embodiments may be used to vaporize anysuitable material in a solid state. Vaporizer 110 for one or moreembodiments may be used to vaporize, for example, any suitable solidmaterial characterized by a sublimation temperature in the range of, forexample, approximately 20 degrees Celsius to approximately 300 degreesCelsius and a vapor pressure in the range of, for example, approximately10-2 Torr to approximately 103 Torr. Vaporizer 110 may be used tovaporize, for example, any suitable material comprising boron (B),phosphorous (P), copper (Cu), gallium (Ga), arsenic (As), ruthenium(Ru), indium (In), antimony (Sb), lanthanum (La), tantalum (Ta), iridium(Ir), decaborane (B₁₀H₁₄), hafnium tetrachloride (HfCl₄), zirconiumtetrachloride (ZrCl₄), indium trichloride (InCl₃), a metal organicβ-diketonate complex, cyclopentadienyl cycloheptatrienyl titanium(CpTiChT), aluminum trichloride (AlCl₃), titanium iodide (Ti_(x)I_(y)),cyclooctatetraene cyclopentadienyl titanium ((Cot)(Cp)Ti),bis(cyclopentadienyl)titanium diazide, tungsten carbonyl(W_(x)(CO)_(y)), bis(cyclopentadienyl)ruthenium (II) (Ru(Cp)₂), and/orruthenium trichloride (RuCl₃). Vaporizer 110 may be used to vaporize anysuitable solid material in any suitable form such as, for example, apowder, agglomerated particles, one or more crystalline bodies, and/or afilm. A crystalline body may have any suitable size and shape, such as atablet, brick, or puck shape for example.

Vaporizer 110 for one or more embodiments may be used to vaporize anysuitable material in a liquid state. Vaporizer 110 may be used tovaporize, for example, any suitable material comprisingtertiaryamylimidotris(dimethylamido)tantalum (Taimata),tetrakis-(diethylamido)titanium (TDEAT),tetrakis-(dimethylamido)titanium (TDMAT), pentakisdimethyl-amidotantalum (PDMAT), tantalum pentaethoxide (TAETO), andbis(ethylcyclopentadienyl)ruthenium (II) (Ru(EtCp)₂). Vaporizer 110 forone or more embodiments may be used to heat any suitable material in asolid state to a liquid state prior to vaporizing the material.

Vaporizer 110 for or more embodiments may be used to vaporize anysuitable material having two or more distinct substances in any suitablestate and/or form.

Vaporizer 110 may comprise any suitable structure to help supportmaterial to be vaporized in any suitable container in any suitablemanner to help increase exposed surface area of the material. Thestructure may be defined, positioned, and/or coupled in any suitablecontainer in any suitable manner. The structure for one or moreembodiments may help support material in the container to help increaseexposed surface area of the material relative to a maximum exposedsurface area the material could have at rest in the container absent thestructure.

The structure for one or more embodiments may help support any suitablematerial for vaporization in the same form as when the material isplaced at the structure. In this manner, material to be vaporized forone or more embodiments may be manually or automatically placed at thestructure and vaporized without further preparation or conditioning ofsuch material. As one example, any suitable liquid material may beplaced at the structure and vaporized while still in liquid form. Asanother example, any suitable solid material in any suitable form, suchas a powder, agglomerated particles, and/or one or more crystallinebodies for example, may be placed at the structure and vaporized whilestill in that same form.

The structure for one or more embodiments may define in any suitablemanner one or more material support surfaces to help support material inthe container with an increased exposed surface area. The structure forone or more embodiments may define in any suitable manner one or morematerial support surfaces in an interior region of the container inaddition to a bottom surface of the interior region of the container.The structure for one or more embodiments may define in an interiorregion of the container one or more material support surfaces having atotal surface area greater than a surface area of a bottom surface ofthe interior region of the container. The structure for one or moreembodiments may define a plurality of material support surfaces atdifferent levels in the container. The structure for one or moreembodiments may define one or more material support surfaces that spandifferent levels in the container. The structure for one or moreembodiments may define one or more material support surfaces of anysuitable shape or contour. The structure for one or more embodiments maydefine one or more generally planar material support surfaces. Thestructure for one or more embodiments may comprise an integral body todefine one or more material support surfaces. The structure for one ormore embodiments may comprise a plurality of bodies to define one ormore material support surfaces.

For one or more embodiments where material to be vaporized is in aliquid state or in a solid state in the form of, for example, a powder,agglomerated particles, and/or one or more crystalline bodies, thestructure may help support and optionally help contain such materialover one or more material support surfaces in any suitable manner. Forone or more embodiments where material to be vaporized is in a solidstate in the form of a film, the material may be formed in any suitablemanner over one or more material support surfaces. For one or moreembodiments where material to be vaporized has two or more distinctsubstances, the structure for one or more embodiments may optionallyhelp support different substances of the material over differentmaterial support surfaces.

The structure for one or more embodiments may help support any suitablematerial over one or more material support surfaces for vaporization inthe same form as when the material is placed over such material supportsurface(s). In this manner, material to be vaporized for one or moreembodiments may be manually or automatically placed over one or morematerial support surfaces and vaporized without further preparation orconditioning of such material. As one example, any suitable liquidmaterial may be placed over one or more material support surfaces andvaporized while still in liquid form. As another example, any suitablesolid material in any suitable form, such as a powder, agglomeratedparticles, and/or one or more crystalline bodies for example, may beplaced over one or more material support surfaces and vaporized whilestill in that same form.

The structure for one or more embodiments may define in any suitablemanner at least a portion of a material support surface over anysuitable at least partially permeable material to help support materialto be vaporized while allowing a suitable gas to flow through thematerial support surface. By also exposing surface area of material tobe vaporized through one or more material support surfaces, vaporizer110 may help increase exposed surface area of the material to bevaporized.

The structure for one or more embodiments may define in any suitablemanner one or more passages that turn, curve, and/or wind in anysuitable manner in the container. Such structure may then help supportmaterial to be vaporized in one or more passages to help increaseexposed surface area of the material. The structure may define one ormore passages of any suitable size and shape. The structure for one ormore embodiments may comprise a tube to define a passage. The structurefor one or more embodiments may comprise a series of coupled tubes todefine a passage. The structure for one or more embodiments may comprisean integral body defining one or more passages. The structure for one ormore embodiments may comprise a plurality of bodies coupled to defineone or more passages.

For one or more embodiments where material to be vaporized is in aliquid state or in a solid state in the form of, for example, a powder,agglomerated particles, and/or one or more crystalline bodies, thematerial may be poured to fill a portion of one or more passages. Forone or more embodiments where material to be vaporized is in a solidstate in the form of a film, the material may be formed in any suitablemanner to any suitable thickness along at least a portion of an innerwall or walls of one or more passages. For one or more embodiments wherematerial to be vaporized has two or more distinct substances, thestructure for one or more embodiments may optionally help supportdifferent substances of the material in different passages.

The structure for one or more embodiments may define in any suitablemanner a mesh of any suitable material to help support material to bevaporized to help increase exposed surface area of the material. As oneexample, such structure may comprise steel wool of any suitable density.For one or more embodiments where material to be vaporized is in a solidstate in the form of, for example, a powder, agglomerated particles,and/or one or more crystalline bodies, the material may be poured intothe mesh structure.

The structure for one or more embodiments may have one or more porousbodies to help support material to be vaporized to help increase exposedsurface area of the material. Such a porous body or bodies may be of anysuitable size and shape and may be formed using any suitable material,such as a porous stainless steel of any suitable density for example.Such a porous body or bodies for one or more embodiments may be chargedwith material to be vaporized in any suitable manner and/or may helpsupport material to be vaporized over one or more surfaces of the porousbody or bodies. A porous body for one embodiment may have pores of alarger size toward, at, or near a first end of the porous body and poresof a smaller size toward, at, or near an opposite second end of theporous body to help prevent material in the porous body from exiting theporous body prior to being vaporized as gas flows into the first end ofthe porous body and through the porous body to exit from the second endof the porous body. For one or more embodiments having a plurality ofporous bodies, such porous bodies may be defined, positioned, and/orcoupled in a container in any suitable manner. A plurality of porousbodies for one or more embodiments may be defined, positioned, and/orcoupled in a stack in a container. A porous body in such a stack may ormay not be spaced from any subjacent or any superjacent porous body inthe stack.

The structure for one or more embodiments may be defined in any suitablemanner to help support one or more bags of material to be vaporized withat least a portion of a bag formed from any suitable at least partiallypermeable material, such as a suitable membrane material for example, tohelp support material to be vaporized in the bag while allowing asuitable gas to flow into the bag and/or vapor from material in the bagto flow out of the bag. The structure for one or more embodiments maysupport one or more such bags to expose surface area of the bag(s) inany suitable manner to help increase exposed surface area of material tobe vaporized. As one example, the structure may help support a bag toexpose opposite sides of the bag to expose surface area of material tobe vaporized at both opposite sides of the bag. For one or moreembodiments, one or more bags of material to be vaporized may be placedin and/or on the structure in any suitable manner. For one or moreembodiments where material to be vaporized has two or more distinctsubstances, the structure for one or more embodiments may optionallyhelp support different substances of the material in different bags.

For block 204 of FIG. 2, material in the container is heated to vaporizethe material. The material may be heated in any suitable manner to anysuitable temperature using any suitable heating equipment to helptransform the material into a gas or vapor state. The container for oneor more embodiments may define and/or have any suitable structure tohelp increase heated surface area in the container to help increase therate of vaporization of material in the container. The container for oneor more embodiments may define and/or have any suitable structure tohelp increase heated surface area in the container relative to a maximumheated surface area the container could have absent such structure. Forone or more embodiments, the structure to help support material to bevaporized to help increase exposed surface area of the material may bedefined to help conduct heat and therefore help increase heated surfacearea in the container.

For block 206, a gas is introduced into the container of vaporizer 110to contact vaporized material. Vaporizer 110 may be coupled to anysuitable gas source 130 in any suitable manner to receive any suitablegas in the container in any suitable manner. Because vaporizer 110supports material in the container with an increased exposed surfacearea, vaporizer 110 helps provide a larger interface area at whichvaporized material may interact with gas in the container and thereforehelps promote contact of introduced gas with vaporized material.

Vaporizer 110 for one or more embodiments may receive any suitablecarrier gas to help deliver any suitable vaporized material to processequipment 120. By helping to promote contact of carrier gas withvaporized material, vaporizer 110 may then help promote saturation ofcarrier gas with vaporized material.

Vaporizer 110 for one or more embodiments may receive any suitable gasthat is reactive with any suitable vaporized material to deliver anysuitable resulting gas to process equipment 120. By helping to promotecontact of introduced gas with vaporized material, vaporizer 110 maythen help promote chemical reaction of introduced gas with vaporizedmaterial.

The gas to be received by vaporizer 110 may depend at least in part, forexample, on the material to be vaporized and/or on the process oroperation to be performed by process equipment 120. For one or moreembodiments where vaporizer 110 is to receive a carrier gas, vaporizer110 may receive a carrier gas comprising, for example, hydrogen (H),helium (He), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), argon (Ar), carbon monoxide (CO),and/or carbon dioxide (CO₂). For one or more embodiments where vaporizer110 is to receive a gas reactive with vaporized material, vaporizer 110may receive a gas comprising, for example, carbon monoxide (CO),nitrosyl, and/or nitric oxide (NO). Vaporizer 110 for one or moreembodiments may receive a mixture of a gas reactive with vaporizedmaterial and any suitable inert gas, such as nitrogen (N) or helium (He)for example.

For block 208 of FIG. 2, vaporizer 110 may optionally direct gas flowover and/or through material being vaporized to help increase contacttime of introduced gas with material being vaporized. Vaporizer 110 forone or more embodiments may then help promote contact of introduced gaswith vaporized material despite any variations in the vaporization rateof the material and/or any variations in the concentration of thevaporized material in the container. Vaporizer 110 may comprise anysuitable structure to help direct gas flow over and/or through materialbeing vaporized in any suitable manner.

For one or more embodiments where material to be vaporized is supportedover one or more material support surfaces, vaporizer 110 may comprisestructure to define one or more passageways through one or more materialsupport surfaces to help direct gas flow over material being vaporized.Such passageway(s) may be defined, for example, to help direct gas flowdirectly over material being vaporized and/or toward any suitablestructure to help direct gas flow to circulate or whirl over materialbeing vaporized.

Vaporizer 110 for one or more embodiments may comprise any suitablebaffle or diffuser structure to help direct gas flow directly overmaterial being vaporized and/or to help direct gas flow to circulate orwhirl over material being vaporized.

For one or more embodiments, the structure to help support material tobe vaporized may also serve to help direct gas flow over and/or throughmaterial being vaporized. For one or more embodiments where vaporizer110 comprises structure to help support material to be vaporized over atleast partially permeable material, gas flow may be directed through theat least partially permeable material to flow through material beingvaporized. For one or more embodiments where vaporizer 110 comprisesstructure to help support material to be vaporized in one or morepassages that turn, curve, and/or wind in the container, gas flow may bedirected through the defined passage(s) to flow over material beingvaporized. For one or more embodiments where vaporizer 110 comprisesstructure to define a mesh to help support material to be vaporized, gasflow may be directed through the mesh to flow over material beingvaporized. For one or more embodiments where vaporizer 110 comprisesstructure having one or more porous bodies to help support material tobe vaporized, gas flow may be directed through one or more porous bodiesto flow over material being vaporized in one or more porous bodiesand/or to flow through material being vaporized over one or moresurfaces of one or more porous bodies.

For block 210 of FIG. 2, gas resulting from contact of introduced gaswith vaporized material is delivered to process equipment 120. Vaporizer110 may be coupled to any suitable process equipment 120 in any suitablemanner to deliver the resulting gas to process equipment 120. Becausevaporizer 110 helps promote contact of introduced gas with vaporizedmaterial, gas for one or more embodiments may be introduced into thecontainer of vaporizer 110 at a relatively higher flow rate to helpdeliver the resulting gas at a relatively higher flow rate to processequipment 120.

Vaporizer 110 for one or more embodiments may be used to deliver anysuitable gas for use in any suitable semiconductor process to beperformed by any suitable process equipment 120 in response to receivingthe delivered gas. Vaporizer 110 for one or more embodiments may be usedto deliver any suitable gas for use in any suitable chemical vapordeposition (CVD) process such as, for example, an atomic layerdeposition (ALD) process, a plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition(PEALD) process, a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)process, or a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process.For one or more embodiments where vaporizer 110 is to deliver gas toprocess equipment 120 to perform an atomic layer deposition (ALD)process that uses multiple bursts of delivered gas spaced in time todeposit a film over a substrate one monolayer at a time, vaporizer 110for one or more embodiments may continue to produce gas to be deliveredto process equipment 120 while process equipment 120 is not drawing anygas from vaporizer 110 between such bursts. Because vaporizer 110supports material to be vaporized to help increase exposed surface areaof material to be vaporized to help promote contact of received gas withvaporized material, vaporizer 110 for one or more embodiments mayproduce gas and deliver gas to process equipment 120 with reduced orminimized concern for providing a sufficient flow rate of delivered gaswhen drawn by process equipment 120.

Vaporizer 110 for one or more embodiments may be used to deliver anysuitable gas for use in any suitable ion implantation process.

Operations for blocks 202, 204, 206, 208, and/or 210 may be performed inany suitable order and may or may not be performed so as to overlap intime the performance of any suitable operation with any other suitableoperation. As one example, material in the container may be heated forblock 204 as gas is introduced into the container for block 206.

Although described in connection with process equipment 120, vaporizer110 may be used to deliver any suitable gas to any suitable equipmentfor any suitable purpose.

As used in this detailed description, directional terms such as, forexample, top, bottom, up, and down are used for convenience to describevaporizer 110 relative to one frame of reference regardless of howvaporizer 110 or any component of vaporizer 110 may be oriented inspace.

EXAMPLE STRUCTURE TO SUPPORT MATERIAL WITH INCREASED SURFACE AREA

Vaporizer 110 for one or more embodiments may comprise a containerhaving one or more holders defining one or more support surfaces to helpsupport material to help increase exposed surface area of material. FIG.3 illustrates, for one example embodiment, a container 300 having aplurality of holders 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, and 360 definingrespective support surfaces 311, 321, 331, 341, 351, and 361.

The container may define in any suitable manner any suitable one or moreinterior regions in which one or more holders may be defined,positioned, and/or coupled in any suitable manner. The container maydefine one or more interior regions of any suitable size and shape. Thecontainer for one embodiment may have one or more sidewalls, a bottomwall, and/or a top wall to help define an interior region of anysuitable size and shape. The container for one or more embodiments maydefine in any suitable manner any suitable one or more openings throughwhich material to be vaporized may be placed over, on, and/or in one ormore holders in an interior region and/or through which one or moreholders may be inserted into an interior region. The container maydefine one or more openings of any suitable size and shape and in anysuitable location relative to one or more interior regions.

The container for one embodiment may have a bottom wall and one or moresidewalls to help define an interior region of any suitable size andshape with an opening of any suitable size and shape at or near the topof the container generally opposite the bottom wall. As illustrated inthe example embodiment of FIG. 3, container 300 may have a bottom wallhaving a surface 301 and a sidewall 302 to help define a generallycylindrical interior region in container 300 with a generally circularopening at or near the top of container 300. The inner diameter of thegenerally cylindrical interior region for one or more embodiments may bein the range of, for example, approximately 3 inches to approximately 6inches and for one embodiment may be, for example, approximately 3.75inches. The container for one embodiment may have a bottom wall and foursidewalls to help define a generally parallelepiped-shaped interiorregion in the container with a generally rectangular opening at or nearthe top of the container generally opposite the bottom wall.

The container for one embodiment may have a top wall, one or moresidewalls, and a bottom wall to help define an interior region of anysuitable size and shape with an opening of any suitable size and shapeon a side of the container. The container for one embodiment may have atop wall, three sidewalls, and a bottom wall to help define a generallyparallelepiped-shaped interior region in the container with a generallyrectangular opening at a fourth side of the container.

The container for one or more embodiments may define one or moreinterior regions of any suitable size and shape to help heat material insuch interior region(s). For one or more embodiments where material inthe container may be heated through one or more sidewalls of thecontainer, the container for one or more embodiments may define anelongated interior region to help support material in the container inproximity to a sidewall.

The container may be formed in any suitable manner using any suitablematerial. The container for one embodiment may be formed using anysuitable material that helps conduct heat to help heat and thereforehelp vaporize material in the container. Examples of suitable materialsfor the container may include, without limitation, stainless steel,aluminum, aluminum alloys, copper, copper alloys, silver, silver alloys,lead, nickel clad, graphite, ceramic material, Hastelloy, Inconel,Monel, and/or one or more polymers. The container for one or moreembodiments may be formed using a composite of materials, layeredmaterials, and/or lined materials. Although container 300 is illustratedin the example embodiment of FIG. 3 as having an integral body, thecontainer for another embodiment may be formed from separate pieces. Thecontainer for one or more embodiments may be of a suitable conventionalampoule used for vaporizing material for delivery to processingequipment.

Any suitable number of one or more holders may be defined, positioned,and/or coupled in any suitable container in any suitable manner to helpincrease exposed surface area of material. Any suitable number of one ormore holders may be used for one or more embodiments to help supportmaterial in an interior region of a container with an increased exposedsurface area relative to a maximum exposed surface area the same totalamount of material could have at rest on a bottom surface of theinterior region of the container absent any holders in the interiorregion. For one embodiment, material to be vaporized may optionally besupported on a bottom surface of an interior region of a container inaddition to being supported by one or more holders in the interiorregion. Any suitable number of two or more holders may be used for oneor more embodiments to help support material in an interior region of acontainer such that the total surface area of the surfaces defined bysuch holders to help support material is greater than the surface areaof a bottom surface of the interior region.

One or more holders for one embodiment may be defined, positioned,and/or coupled to help support material to be vaporized at differentlevels in a container. One or more holders for one embodiment may bedefined, positioned, and/or coupled to define one or more supportsurfaces over a bottom surface in an interior region of a container. Aplurality of holders for one embodiment may be defined, positioned,and/or coupled to define a plurality of support surfaces at differentlevels in a container.

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 3, holder 310 may bepositioned over bottom surface 301 to define support surface 311 overbottom surface 301, holder 320 may be positioned over holder 310 todefine support surface 321 over support surface 311; holder 330 may bepositioned over holder 320 to define support surface 331 over supportsurface 321; holder 340 may be positioned over holder 330 to definesupport surface 341 over support surface 331; holder 350 may bepositioned over holder 340 to define support surface 351 over supportsurface 341; and holder 360 may be positioned over holder 350 to definesupport surface 361 over support surface 351. Although illustrated inthe example embodiment of FIG. 3 as using six holders 310, 320, 330,340, 350, and 360, any suitable number of one or more holders, such asthree, four, or five for example, may be used for one or more otherembodiments.

Any suitable amount of any suitable material in any suitable one or morestates and/or form may be placed or formed over, on, and/or in one ormore holders in any suitable manner. The material may comprise, forexample, a solid and/or a liquid. Where the material to be vaporizedcomprises a solid, such material may be in any suitable form such as,for example, a powder, agglomerated particles, one or more crystallinebodies, and/or a film. Material to be vaporized for one embodiment maybe manually placed or formed over, on, and/or in one or more holders inany suitable manner. Material to be vaporized for one embodiment may beautomatically placed or formed over, on, and/or in one or more holdersin any suitable manner using any suitable equipment.

Material to be vaporized for one embodiment may be placed over, on,and/or in one or more holders while contained in one or more bags withat least a portion of a bag formed from any suitable at least partiallypermeable material, such as a suitable membrane material for example, tohelp support material to be vaporized in the bag while allowing asuitable gas to flow into the bag and/or vapor from material in the bagto flow out of the bag. Material to be vaporized for one embodiment maybe placed over, on, and/or in one or more holders while contained in oneor more bags with at least a portion of a bag formed from any suitablematerial that will at least partially disintegrate when heated.

One or more holders for one embodiment may be at least partially coatedwith material to be vaporized in any suitable manner to form a film overone or more support surfaces. As one example, a suitable material, suchas a metal complex for example, may be melted, applied over one or moresupport surfaces, and then cooled. As another example, a suitablematerial, such as a metal complex for example, may be dissolved in asolvent and applied over one or more support surfaces followed byremoval of the solvent.

Material to be vaporized for one embodiment may also optionally beplaced or formed over a bottom surface of an interior region of acontainer.

One or more holders for one or more embodiments may be separable fromone or more other holders and removable from a container to helpfacilitate cleaning and/or refilling such holder(s). One or more suchholders may be placed in a container in any suitable manner. One or moreholders for one embodiment may be manually placed in a container. One ormore holders for one embodiment may be automatically placed in acontainer in any suitable manner using any suitable equipment. Theplacement or formation of material over a support surface of a removableholder may be performed prior to, while, or after the holder is placedin the container.

A plurality of removable holders for one embodiment may optionally beplaced in a stack in an interior region of a container. A plurality ofseparable and removable holders for one embodiment may be placed in acontainer one at a time. After a first holder has been placed in acontainer, a second holder for one embodiment may be placed in thecontainer to rest on the first holder and any subsequent holder may thenbe placed in the container to rest on the top holder in the container.One or more holders for one embodiment may be placed in a container torest directly on another holder. One or more holders for one embodimentmay be placed in a container to rest indirectly on another holder where,for example, a gasket or any other suitable structure is placed over theother holder.

One or more holders for one embodiment may be placed in a containerdefining and/or having structure to help support one or more holders inthe container. Such structure may be integral with and/or separate fromthe container. As one example, one or more inner walls of a containermay be shaped with one or more ledges to help support one or moreholders.

A plurality of removable holders for one embodiment may be placed in acontainer together in any suitable manner. A plurality of holders forone embodiment may be coupled to one another in any suitable mannerprior to placement of the holders in a container.

Material to be vaporized for one embodiment may be placed over one ormore support surfaces of one or more removable holders while in a drybox or glove box, for example, and the holder(s) may be placed in acontainer while in the dry box or glove box to help reduce, minimize, oravoid reaction of the material with, for example, oxygen and/ormoisture.

A holder may define one or more support surfaces with any suitable size,contour, and shape. A holder for one or more embodiments may optionallyhave one or more sidewalls and/or one or more supports of any suitablesize and shape relative to a support surface to help support one or moreother holders, for example, positioned over the holder and to helpdefine a region through which gas may flow over material supported bythe holder. A holder for one embodiment may have one or more sidewallsalong at least a portion of the perimeter of a support surface. Suchsidewall(s) for one embodiment may be defined to help contain anysuitable amount of material supported by the holder. Such sidewall(s)for one embodiment may optionally be grooved along the top to helpposition a gasket between the holder and a superjacent holder, forexample.

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 4, holder 310 maydefine a generally planar support surface 311 generally circular inshape and may have a generally cylindrical sidewall 312 along theperimeter of support surface 311.

A holder may be formed in any suitable manner using any suitablematerial. A holder for one embodiment may be formed using any suitablematerial that helps conduct heat to help heat and therefore helpvaporize material supported by the holder. Examples of suitablematerials for a holder may include, without limitation, stainless steel,aluminum, aluminum alloys, copper, copper alloys, silver, silver alloys,lead, nickel clad, graphite, ceramic material, Hastelloy, Inconel,Monel, and/or one or more polymers. A holder for one or more embodimentsmay be formed using a composite of materials, layered materials, and/orlined materials. The material(s) used to form a holder may or may not bethe same as the material(s) used to form any container in which theholder may be positioned. The material(s) used to form a holder may ormay not be the same as the material(s) used to form any other holder tobe positioned in a same container. Although holder 310 is illustrated inthe example embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4 as having an integral bodydefining support surface 311 and sidewall 312, one or more holders foranother embodiment may be formed from separate pieces to define one ormore support surfaces and/or one or more sidewalls and/or one or moresupports.

For one embodiment, two or more holders in a container may be similarlyformed to help support material to be vaporized in the container.

The container and one or more holders for one or more embodiments may bedesigned to help promote heat transfer from the container to one or moreholders in any suitable manner. The container and one or more holdersfor one or more embodiments may be designed to help promote heattransfer from one or more sidewalls of the container to one or moreholders through one or more sidewalls of such holder(s). As illustratedin the example embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4, container 300 may havesidewall 302 to help define a generally cylindrical interior region, andholder 310, for example, may have a generally cylindrical sidewall 312the outer surface of which may be used to help provide thermal contactwith the inner surface of sidewall 302 when holder 310 is positioned incontainer 300.

The container and one or more holders for one embodiment may optionallybe manufactured to allow a clearance between the inner surface of one ormore sidewalls of the container and the outer surface of one or moresidewalls of a holder to be in a predetermined range, such as in therange of approximately 1/1000th of an inch to approximately 3/1000th ofan inch for example. The placement of one or more holders in thecontainer and/or the removal of one or more holders from the containerfor one embodiment may be eased by cooling the holder(s) relative to thecontainer and/or heating the container relative to the holder(s). One ormore holders for one embodiment may be formed using material having alarger coefficient of thermal expansion relative to material used toform the container to help allow increased clearance between the innersurface of one or more sidewalls of the container and the outer surfaceof one or more sidewalls of a holder at relatively lower temperatures,such as room temperature for example, while helping to promote thermalcontact between the inner surface of one or more sidewalls of thecontainer and the outer surface of one or more sidewalls of a holder atrelatively higher temperatures.

Gas Introduction

Gas may be introduced at any suitable flow rate into one or moreinterior regions of a container at any suitable location. Gas for one ormore embodiments may be introduced into an interior region of acontainer at or near one end in the interior region to flow towardanother end in the interior region.

Gas for one or more embodiments may be introduced into an interiorregion of a container at or near a bottom surface of the interior regionand/or a lowermost holder supporting material to be vaporized in theinterior region. Gas for one embodiment may be introduced between thelowermost holder supporting material to be vaporized and the bottomsurface of the interior region. Gas for one embodiment may be introducedbetween the lowermost holder supporting material to be vaporized and anext lowermost holder supporting material to be vaporized in theinterior region.

Gas may be introduced into an interior region of a container in anysuitable manner. Gas for one embodiment may be introduced into aninterior region of a container through a passage defined to extend fromany suitable location at or near the top of the interior region to anysuitable location at or near a bottom surface of the interior regionand/or a lowermost holder supporting material to be vaporized in theinterior region. The passage may be defined in any suitable manner usingany suitable structure.

The passage to introduce gas for one embodiment may be at leastpartially defined by a tube extending from any suitable location at ornear the top of the interior region and through any suitable portion ofthe interior region to any suitable location at or near the bottomsurface of the interior region and/or the lowermost holder supportingmaterial to be vaporized in the interior region. The tube for oneembodiment may extend through an opening in at least one holder in theinterior region. The tube may be formed from any suitable material andmay define a passage of any suitable size and shape.

The tube for one embodiment may extend to any suitable location betweenthe lowermost holder supporting material to be vaporized in the interiorregion and the bottom surface of the interior region. The lowermostholder in the interior region for one embodiment may be supported abovethe bottom surface of the interior region by any suitable structure todefine a region between that lowermost holder and the bottom surface.For one embodiment, any suitable support structure may be defined by thecontainer on, at, or near the bottom surface of the interior regionand/or may be placed in the interior region prior to placing a firstholder in the interior region. The first holder may then be placed inthe interior region to rest either directly or indirectly on the supportstructure. For one embodiment, one or more sidewalls of the interiorregion may define one or more ledges on, at, or near the bottom surfaceto help support a lowermost holder above the bottom surface.

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 3, a generally annularsupport 304 may be placed on bottom surface 301 in the interior regionof container 300 to support holder 310 above bottom surface 301. A tube305 may then extend through openings in holders 360, 350, 340, 330, 320,and 310 in a generally central portion of the interior region ofcontainer 300 to a location between holder 310 and bottom surface 301.

The tube for another embodiment may extend to any suitable locationbetween the lowermost holder supporting material to be vaporized in theinterior region and a holder superjacent that lowermost holder.

A holder for one or more embodiments may define at any suitable locationan opening of any suitable size and shape through which the tube mayextend. A holder for one embodiment may have one or more sidewalls alongat least a portion of the perimeter of such an opening. Such sidewall(s)for one embodiment may be defined to help contain any suitable amount ofmaterial supported by a support surface of the holder. Such sidewall(s)for one embodiment may be formed from any suitable material to helpconduct heat and therefore help vaporize material supported by theholder. Such sidewall(s) for one embodiment may be defined to helpsupport one or more other holders positioned over the holder. Suchsidewall(s) for one embodiment may optionally be grooved along the topto help position a gasket between the holder and the tube and/or betweenthe holder and a superjacent holder, for example. Such sidewall(s) forone embodiment may be coupled to the holder using any suitable techniquesuch as, for example, by screwing an at least partially threadedsidewall into a threaded opening. Such sidewall(s) for anotherembodiment may be integrally formed with the holder, for example, tohelp promote heat transfer to such sidewall(s).

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, holder310 may define through a generally central region of support surface 311a generally circular opening through which tube 305 may extend and mayhave a generally cylindrical sidewall 315 along the perimeter of thatopening with a groove at the top of sidewall 315 to help position anO-ring 316 between holder 310 and tube 305 and between holder 310 andholder 320.

For one embodiment, two or more holders in a container may be similarlyformed to define an opening through which a tube may extend. The tubefor one embodiment may be inserted through an opening in one or moreholders after such holder(s) have been placed in the container. The tubefor another embodiment may be inserted through an opening in one or moreholders before such holder(s) have been placed in the container, and thetube and holder(s) may then be placed in the container together.

The passage to introduce gas for another embodiment may be at leastpartially defined to extend within a sidewall from any suitable locationat or near the top of an interior region of a container to any suitablelocation at or near a bottom surface of the interior region and/or alowermost holder supporting material to be vaporized in the interiorregion. The passage may be defined within the sidewall to be of anysuitable size and shape.

Although described in connection with being introduced through onepassage at or near a bottom surface of an interior region and/or alowermost holder supporting material to be vaporized in the interiorregion, gas for another embodiment may be introduced into an interiorregion of a container through a plurality of passages defined to extendto any suitable location at or near a bottom surface of the interiorregion and/or a lowermost holder supporting material to be vaporized inthe interior region. Such a plurality of passages may comprise one ormore passages at least partially defined by one or more tubes, one ormore passages defined within one or more sidewalls of the interiorregion, and/or one or more passages defined using any other suitablestructure.

Gas for one embodiment may be introduced into an interior region of acontainer through a bottom wall at a bottom surface of the interiorregion and/or through a sidewall at a sidewall surface of the interiorregion at any suitable location at or near the bottom surface and/or alowermost holder supporting material to be vaporized in the interiorregion. Gas for one embodiment may be introduced through a plurality ofopenings defined throughout a bottom surface of an interior regionand/or a sidewall surface of the interior region to help betterdistribute gas in the interior region.

Gas for one or more embodiments may be introduced into an interiorregion of a container at or near a top end of the interior region and/ora topmost holder supporting material to be vaporized in the interiorregion to flow toward a bottom end of the interior region.

Gas Flow Over and/or Through Material being Vaporized

Introduced gas may be directed to flow in any suitable manner overand/or through material supported by an end surface of an interiorregion of a container and/or by one or more holders in the interiorregion to help increase contact time of introduced gas with materialbeing vaporized. Introduced gas may then more likely contact vaporizedmaterial despite any variations in the vaporization rate of the materialand/or any variations in the concentration of the vaporized material inthe interior region.

For one embodiment where material to be vaporized is supported on abottom surface of an interior region of a container and where gas isintroduced at or near the bottom surface, introduced gas may be directedto flow over and/or through material supported on the bottom surfaceusing any suitable structure. As one example, the example embodiment ofFIG. 3 may be modified by coupling a baffle or diffuser at the end oftube 305 to help direct gas flow over material supported on bottomsurface 301. For one embodiment where gas is introduced at or near alowermost holder supporting material to be vaporized, introduced gas maybe directed to flow over and/or through material supported by thelowermost holder using any suitable structure.

For one or more embodiments, one or more holders in an interior regionof a container may have one or more passageways defined in any suitablemanner to help direct the flow of any suitable gas from one end of theinterior region toward another end and to help direct such gas flow overand/or through material supported by such holder(s) as gas is directedtoward the other end of the interior region.

A holder for one or more embodiments may have at any suitable one ormore locations any suitable number of one or more passageways throughwhich gas may flow through the holder. A holder for one embodiment mayhave at any suitable one or more locations any suitable number of one ormore passageways through which gas may flow from below the holder andover and/or through material supported by the holder.

A holder for one embodiment may define through a support surface anopening of any suitable size and shape and may have one or moresidewalls of any suitable size and shape to extend up from the supportsurface along at least a portion of the perimeter of such an opening tohelp define a passageway for gas flow through the holder. Suchsidewall(s) for one embodiment may be defined to help contain anysuitable amount of material supported by the holder. Such sidewall(s)for one embodiment may help direct gas flow to circulate or whirl overmaterial supported by the holder. Such sidewall(s) for one embodimentmay be formed from any suitable material to help conduct heat andtherefore help vaporize material supported by the holder. Suchsidewall(s) for one embodiment may be coupled to the holder using anysuitable technique. Such sidewall(s) for another embodiment may beintegrally formed with the holder, for example, to help promote heattransfer to such sidewall(s).

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 5, holder 310may define a generally circular opening through support surface 311, anda tube 317 may be inserted in that opening to define a generallycylindrical sidewall to extend up from support surface 311 along theperimeter of that opening to help define a generally cylindricalpassageway through holder 310. Tube 317 may have any suitable size andshape and may define a passageway of any suitable size and shape. Tube317 may be formed from any suitable material, such as stainless steelfor example, and may be inserted in an opening in support surface 311using any suitable technique. Tube 317 for one embodiment may be pressfit into an opening in support surface 311. Tube 317 for anotherembodiment may have an outer threaded surface and may be screwed into anopening in support surface 311. A threaded tube 317 for one embodimentmay allow for adjustability to help optimize gas flow and/or contacttime of gas with material being vaporized. One or more otherpassageways, such as that defined by tube 318 for example, may besimilarly defined for holder 310.

A holder for one embodiment may have one or more sidewalls to define oneor more generally conical passageways that taper as the sidewall(s)extend up from a support surface of the holder to help reduce, minimize,or avoid backflow of gas. The width and/or thickness of such sidewall(s)for one embodiment may also taper as the sidewall(s) extend up from asupport surface of the holder.

A holder for one embodiment may have one or more passageway sidewallsthat define one or more vents to allow gas to flow radially through suchsidewall(s) and through and/or over material supported by the holder.

For one or more embodiments, two or more holders may have one or morepassageways for gas flow through such holders to allow one or more suchholders to be positioned to at least partially overlie another suchholder. Introduced gas for one embodiment may then be directed to flowover and/or through material supported by an increased number of holdersto help increase contact time of introduced gas with material beingvaporized.

A superjacent holder for one embodiment may be positioned or orientedrelative to a subjacent holder to help avoid aligning one or morepassageways of the superjacent holder with one or more passageways ofthe subjacent holder. A superjacent holder for one embodiment may haveone or more passageways at different locations to help avoid aligningone or more passageways of the superjacent holder with one or morepassageways of the subjacent holder regardless of how such holders arepositioned or oriented relative to one another. By avoiding alignment ofpassageways, the bottom of the superjacent holder may help direct gasflow exiting one or more passageways through the subjacent holder tocirculate or whirl over material supported by the subjacent holder priorto entering one or more passageways through the superjacent holder.Directing gas flow to circulate or whirl over material supported by aholder as the material is vaporized helps increase contact time of thegas with material being vaporized and therefore helps promote contact ofthe gas with vaporized material.

Superjacent and subjacent holders for one embodiment may optionallydefine and/or have any suitable structure to help position or orientthem relative to one another to help avoid aligning one or morepassageways of the superjacent holder with one or more passageways ofthe subjacent holder. As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG.4, a notch 314 may be defined at the top of sidewall 312 to receive acorresponding protuberance extending down from the bottom of asuperjacent holder to help orient the superjacent holder relative toholder 310.

For one or more embodiments where one or more passageway sidewallsextend up from a support surface of a subjacent holder, such passagewaysidewall(s) for one embodiment may be of any suitable height to helpdefine an exit region of any suitable size between such passagewaysidewall(s) and the bottom of a superjacent holder to allow gas flow toexit one or more passageways through the subjacent holder and/or to helpcirculate or whirl gas flow over material supported by the subjacentholder.

A superjacent holder for one or more embodiments may have one or moresidewalls of any suitable size and shape to extend down from the bottomof the holder along at least a portion of the perimeter of a passagewayopening. Such sidewall(s) for one embodiment may help direct gas flow tocirculate or whirl over material supported by a subjacent holder priorto entering one or more passageways through the superjacent holder. Suchsidewall(s) for one embodiment may be of any suitable depth to helpdefine an entrance region of any suitable size between such sidewall(s)and, for example, the top surface of material supported by the subjacentholder to allow gas flow to enter one or more passageways through thesuperjacent holder. Such sidewall(s) for one embodiment may be coupledto the holder using any suitable technique. Such sidewall(s) for anotherembodiment may be integrally formed with the holder.

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 5, holder 320may define a generally circular opening through support surface 321, anda tube 327 may be inserted in that opening to define a generallycylindrical sidewall to extend down from the bottom of holder 320 alongthe perimeter of that opening to help define a generally cylindricalpassageway through holder 320. Tube 327 may have any suitable size andshape and may define a passageway of any suitable size and shape. Tube327 may be formed from any suitable material, such as stainless steelfor example, and may be inserted in an opening in support surface 321using any suitable technique. Tube 327 for one embodiment may be pressfit into an opening in support surface 321. Tube 327 for anotherembodiment may have an outer threaded surface and may be screwed into anopening in support surface 321. A threaded tube 327 for one embodimentmay allow for adjustability to help optimize gas flow and/or contacttime of gas with material being vaporized. One or more otherpassageways, such as that defined by tube 328 for example, may besimilarly defined for holder 320.

As also illustrated in the example embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 5, tube 327may be inserted through an opening in support surface 321 of holder 320to define both a generally cylindrical sidewall to extend up fromsupport surface 321 along the perimeter of that opening and a generallycylindrical sidewall to extend down from the bottom of holder 320 alongthe perimeter of that opening. Tube 327 for one embodiment may be pressfit to any suitable position in the opening. Tube 327 for anotherembodiment may have an outer threaded surface and may be screwed intothe opening to any suitable position in the opening. One or more othertubes, such as tube 328 for example, may also define both a generallycylindrical sidewall to extend up from support surface 321 and agenerally cylindrical sidewall to extend down from the bottom of holder320.

For one or more embodiments where one or more passageway sidewallsextend up from a support surface of a subjacent holder and one or morepassageway sidewalls extend down from the bottom of a superjacentholder, the top of one or more passageway sidewalls extending up fromthe support surface of the subjacent holder for one embodiment may behigher than the bottom of one or more passageway sidewalls extendingdown from the bottom of the superjacent holder to help direct gas flowexiting one or more passageways through the subjacent holder tocirculate or whirl over material supported by the subjacent holder priorto entering one or more passageways through the superjacent holder. Asillustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 5, the tops of tubes 317and 318 for holder 310 may be higher than the bottoms of tubes 327 and328 for holder 320 to help direct gas flow to circulate or whirl overmaterial supported by holder 310.

A holder for one embodiment may have one or more passageways having acover over its top to help direct gas flow radially through one or morevents defined between the cover and a passageway sidewall and/or definedin a passageway sidewall. In this manner, the holder may be positionedor oriented relative to a superjacent holder with reduced or minimizedconcern for avoiding alignment of passageways. The holder may have anysuitable structure for a passageway cover. Such structure for oneembodiment may be integral with and/or coupled to a passageway sidewallin any suitable manner.

A holder for one or more embodiments may have any suitable number of oneor more walls of any suitable size and shape in any suitable location toextend up from a support surface of the holder and may have one or morepassageways of any suitable size and shape defined within one or moresuch wall(s) for gas flow through the holder. Such wall(s) for oneembodiment may be defined as having one or more passageways to help easeplacement or formation of material over, on, and/or in the holderrelative to, for example, a holder having passageway sidewalls spreadthroughout a support surface. Such wall(s) for one embodiment may bedefined to help contain any suitable amount of material supported by theholder. Such wall(s) for one embodiment may help direct gas flow tocirculate or whirl over material supported by the holder. Such wall(s)for one embodiment may be formed using any suitable material to helpconduct heat and therefore help vaporize material supported by theholder. Such wall(s) for one embodiment may be coupled to the holderusing any suitable technique. Such wall(s) for another embodiment may beintegrally formed with the holder, for example, to help promote heattransfer to such wall(s).

A holder for one embodiment may have one or more walls of any suitablesize and shape to extend up from a support surface of the holder to helppartition the support surface and may have one or more passageways ofany suitable size and shape defined within one or more such wall(s) forgas flow through the holder. Such wall(s) for one embodiment may bedefined in any suitable location to help partition the support surfaceinto any suitable number of two or more regions over which material tobe vaporized may be supported.

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 6, a holder 610 maydefine a support surface 611 and have a sidewall 612 along the perimeterof support surface 611 and a sidewall 615 along the perimeter of anopening through which a tube for gas introduction may extend. Holder610, support surface 611, sidewall 612, and sidewall 615 generallycorrespond to holder 310, support surface 311, sidewall 312, andsidewall 315, respectively, of FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. Holder 610 may have aplurality of walls, such as walls 617 and 618 for example, that extendbetween sidewall 612 and sidewall 615 to partition support surface 611into multiple regions over which material to be vaporized may be placedor formed. One or more passageways may be defined within one or moresuch wall(s) rather than, for example, spread throughout support surface611 to help ease placement or formation of material to be vaporizedover, on, and/or in holder 610.

A superjacent holder having one or more walls having one or morepassageways for one embodiment may be positioned or oriented relative toa subjacent holder to help direct gas flow exiting one or morepassageways through the subjacent holder to flow over material supportedby the subjacent holder prior to entering one or more passagewaysthrough the superjacent holder. For one embodiment, one or more wallshaving one or more passageways for the subjacent holder may be of anysuitable height to help define an exit region of any suitable sizebetween such wall(s) and the bottom of the superjacent holder to allowgas flow to exit one or more passageways through the subjacent holderand/or to help circulate or whirl gas flow over material supported bythe subjacent holder.

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 6, a superjacent holder620 may define a support surface 621 and have a sidewall 622 along theperimeter of support surface 621, a sidewall 625 along the perimeter ofan opening through which a tube for gas introduction may extend, and aplurality of walls, such as walls 627 and 628 for example, that extendbetween sidewall 622 and sidewall 625 to partition support surface 621into multiple regions over which material to be vaporized may be placedor formed. Holder 620, support surface 621, sidewall 622, sidewall 625,and walls 627 and 628 generally correspond to holder 610, supportsurface 611, sidewall 612, sidewall 615, and walls 617 and 618,respectively. Superjacent holder 620 for one embodiment may bepositioned or oriented relative to subjacent holder 610 to help directgas flow exiting one or more passageways defined within wall 618, forexample, to flow over material supported over the two support surfaceregions adjacent wall 618 prior to entering one or more passagewaysdefined within walls 627 and 628, for example, of superjacent holder620. A notch 614 may optionally be defined at the top of sidewall 612 toreceive a corresponding protuberance extending down from the bottom ofsuperjacent holder 620 to help orient superjacent holder 620 relative tosubjacent holder 610.

A holder for one embodiment may have one or more walls of any suitablesize and shape to extend up from a support surface of the holder alongor near at least a portion of the perimeter of the support surface andmay have one or more passageways of any suitable size and shape definedwithin one or more such wall(s) for gas flow through the holder.

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 7, a holder 710 maydefine a support surface 711 and have a sidewall 712 along the perimeterof support surface 711 and a sidewall 715 along the perimeter of anopening through which a tube for gas introduction may extend. Holder710, support surface 711, sidewall 712, and sidewall 715 generallycorrespond to holder 310, support surface 311, sidewall 312, andsidewall 315, respectively, of FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. Holder 710 may have awall 717 along the inner side of sidewall 712 and may have one or morepassageways defined within wall 717 rather than, for example, spreadthroughout support surface 711 to help ease placement or formation ofmaterial over, on, and/or in holder 710.

A holder for one embodiment may have one or more walls of any suitablesize and shape to extend up from a support surface of the holder at ornear a generally central region of the support surface and may have oneor more passageways of any suitable size and shape defined within one ormore such wall(s) for gas flow through the holder.

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 7, a holder 720 maydefine a support surface 721 and have a sidewall 722 along the perimeterof support surface 721 and a sidewall 725 along the perimeter of anopening through which a tube for gas introduction may extend. Holder720, support surface 721, sidewall 722, and sidewall 725 generallycorrespond to holder 310, support surface 311, sidewall 312, andsidewall 315, respectively, of FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. Holder 720 may have awall 727 along the outer side of sidewall 725 and may have one or morepassageways defined within wall 727 rather than, for example, spreadthroughout support surface 721 to help ease placement or formation ofmaterial over, on, and/or in holder 720.

A holder having one or more walls having one or more passageways alongor near at least a portion of the perimeter of a support surface for oneembodiment may be positioned subjacent a holder having one or more wallshaving one or more passageways at or near a generally central region ofa support surface to help direct gas flow exiting one or morepassageways through the subjacent holder to flow over material supportedby the subjacent holder prior to entering one or more passagewaysthrough the superjacent holder. The holder for one embodiment may bepositioned or oriented relative to the superjacent holder with reducedor minimized concern for avoiding alignment of passageways. For oneembodiment, one or more walls having one or more passageways for thesubjacent holder may be of any suitable height to help define an exitregion of any suitable size between such wall(s) and the bottom of thesuperjacent holder to allow gas flow to exit one or more passagewaysthrough the subjacent holder and/or to help circulate or whirl gas flowover material supported by the subjacent holder.

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 7, holder 710 for oneembodiment may be positioned subjacent holder 720 to help direct gasflow exiting one or more passageways defined within wall 717 to flowover material supported over support surface 711 prior to entering oneor more passageways within wall 727 of superjacent holder 720.

A holder having one or more walls having one or more passageways at ornear a generally central region of a support surface for one embodimentmay be positioned subjacent a holder having one or more walls having oneor more passageways along or near at least a portion of the perimeter ofa support surface to help direct gas flow exiting one or morepassageways through the subjacent holder to flow over material supportedby the subjacent holder prior to entering one or more passagewaysthrough the superjacent holder. The holder for one embodiment may bepositioned or oriented relative to the superjacent holder with reducedor minimized concern for avoiding alignment of passageways. For oneembodiment, one or more walls having one or more passageways for thesubjacent holder may be of any suitable height to help define an exitregion of any suitable size between such wall(s) and the bottom of thesuperjacent holder to allow gas flow to exit one or more passagewaysthrough the subjacent holder and/or to help circulate or whirl gas flowover material supported by the subjacent holder.

A superjacent holder having one or more walls having one or morepassageways for one embodiment may optionally have one or more walls ofany suitable size and shape to extend down from the bottom of the holderto extend one or more passageways through the superjacent holder. Suchwall(s) for one embodiment may help direct gas flow to circulate orwhirl over material supported by a subjacent holder prior to enteringone or more passageways through the superjacent holder. Such wall(s) forone embodiment may be of any suitable depth to help define an entranceregion of any suitable size between such wall(s) and, for example, thetop surface of material supported by the subjacent holder to allow gasflow to enter one or more passageways through the superjacent holder.Such wall(s) for one embodiment may be coupled to the holder using anysuitable technique. Such wall(s) for another embodiment may beintegrally formed with the holder.

Holder 620 of the example embodiment of FIG. 6, for example, may haveone or more walls that extend down from the bottom of holder 620opposite one or more of the walls partitioning support surface 621, suchas walls 627 and/or 628 for example, to extend one or more passagewaysthrough holder 620. Holder 720 of the example embodiment of FIG. 7, forexample, may have one or more walls that extend down from the bottom ofholder 720 opposite wall 727 to extend one or more passageways throughholder 720.

A superjacent holder having one or more walls having one or morepassageways for one embodiment may optionally have one or more sidewallsof any suitable size and shape to extend down from the bottom of theholder along at least a portion of the perimeter of a passagewayopening.

A holder for one embodiment may have passageways through which gas mayflow through the holder by defining in any suitable manner at least aportion of a support surface over any suitable at least partiallypermeable material, such as a porous stainless steel of any suitabledensity for example. Such a holder may then support material beingvaporized over the support surface while allowing any suitable gas toflow through the support surface and then through and/or over materialbeing vaporized. Such a holder for one embodiment may support anysuitable liquid material. Such a holder for one embodiment may supportany suitable solid material in any suitable form. Such a holder for oneembodiment may support any suitable solid material in the form of apowder and/or agglomerated particles to help create a fluidized bed.

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 8, a holder 810 maydefine a support surface 811 over any suitable at least partiallypermeable material and have a sidewall 812 along the perimeter ofsupport surface 811 and a sidewall 815 along the perimeter of an openingthrough which a tube for gas introduction may extend. Holder 810,support surface 811, sidewall 812, and sidewall 815 generally correspondto holder 310, support surface 311, sidewall 312, and sidewall 315,respectively, of FIGS. 3, 4, and 5.

For one or more embodiments where a holder has any suitable at leastpartially permeable material, such as a porous stainless steel of anysuitable density for example, the holder for one or more embodiments mayhelp support material to be vaporized by charging the at least partiallypermeable material with material to be vaporized in any suitable mannerand/or by supporting material to be vaporized over one or more supportsurfaces over at least a portion of the at least partially permeablematerial. The at least partially permeable material for one embodimentmay have pores of a larger size toward, at, or near a first end, such asa bottom end for example, of the holder and pores of a smaller sizetoward, at, or near an opposite second end, such as a top end forexample, of the holder to help prevent material in the at leastpartially permeable material from exiting the holder prior to beingvaporized as gas flows through the holder.

For one or more embodiments, gas may be directed to flow over and/orthrough material supported by an end surface of an interior region of acontainer and/or by one or more holders in the interior region using anysuitable baffle or diffuser structure. Such structure may be integralwith and/or separate from one or more of such holder(s) and/or thecontainer. Such structure for one embodiment may be integral with and/orcoupled to a holder to help direct gas flow over and/or through materialsupported by the holder. Such structure for one embodiment may beintegral with and/or coupled to a superjacent holder to help direct gasflow over and/or through material supported by a subjacent holder.

System to Deliver Resulting Gas

The container in which one or more holders supporting material to bevaporized are defined, positioned, and/or coupled may be coupled toreceive any suitable gas from any suitable gas source in any suitablemanner, may be heated in any suitable manner using any suitable heatingequipment to help vaporize material in the container, and may be coupledto deliver gas resulting from contact of the received gas with vaporizedmaterial to any suitable process equipment, for example, in any suitablemanner.

FIG. 9 illustrates, for one or more embodiments, a system 900 comprisinga vaporizer 910, process equipment 920, and a gas source 930. Vaporizer910, process equipment 920, and gas source 930 generally correspond tovaporizer 110, process equipment 120, and gas source 130, respectively,of FIG. 1. Vaporizer 910 may comprise container 300 and heatingequipment 912 to help vaporize material in container 300. Container 300may be coupled to gas source 930 to receive any suitable gas and may becoupled to process equipment 920 to deliver gas resulting from contactof the received gas with vaporized material to process equipment 920.

The container for one or more embodiments may receive gas at anysuitable flow rate in one or more interior regions through one or morepassages or inlets defined in any suitable manner through any suitableone or more lids covering one or more openings of the container and/orthrough any suitable one or more walls, such as a sidewall and/or abottom wall for example, of the container. The container for one or moreembodiments may deliver gas resulting from contact of the received gaswith vaporized material at any suitable flow rate through one or morepassages or outlets defined in any suitable manner through any suitableone or more lids covering one or more openings of the container and/orthrough any suitable one or more walls, such as a sidewall and/or abottom wall for example, of the container. A lid for one embodiment mayoptionally have one or more inlets to receive gas and one or moreoutlets to deliver gas. For one embodiment, one or more valves mayoptionally be used to help regulate the introduction of gas into thecontainer. For one embodiment, one or more valves may optionally be usedto help regulate the delivery of gas from the container.

The container for one or more embodiments may have any suitable one ormore lids that may be of any suitable size and shape, that may be formedusing any suitable material, and that may be mounted to cover one ormore openings of the container in any suitable manner. For oneembodiment, the container may have a collar around at least a portion ofan opening to help mount a lid over the opening. A lid for oneembodiment may then be secured to the collar using any suitable one ormore mechanical fasteners. The container for one embodiment mayoptionally be grooved around at least a portion of an opening to helpposition a gasket between the container and a lid mounted over theopening. A lid for one or more embodiments may help secure one or moreholders in an interior region by pressing against such holder(s) in theinterior region when the lid is secured to the container. For one ormore embodiments, additional structure, such as a spacer for example,may optionally be used to help press a lid against such holder(s).

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 3, container 300 mayhave a collar around the opening at the top of container 300, and a lid306 may be positioned over the collar and secured to the collar usingscrews, such as screw 307 for example. A groove may optionally bedefined around the opening at the top of the collar to help position anO-ring 308 between container 300 and lid 306. O-ring 308 may be formedfrom any suitable material such as, for example, Teflon®, any suitableelastomer, or any suitable metal, such as stainless steel for example.Lid 306 may define through a generally central region of lid 306 anopening through which a passage or inlet defined at least in part bytube 305 may extend into the interior region of container 300. As lid306 is secured to the collar for container 300, lid 306 may pressagainst O-ring 308 to help seal lid 306 over the collar and may pressagainst a collar around tube 305 to help press lid 306 against holders360, 350, 340, 330, 320, and 310. An O-ring for holders 360, 350, 340,330, 320, and 310, such as O-ring 316 of FIG. 5 for example, may then becompressed to help seal holders 360, 350, 340, 330, 320, and 310 againstone another and/or against tube 305. A valve 381 having an inletcoupling 391 may be coupled to tube 305 to help regulate theintroduction of gas into container 300. Lid 306 may also define anopening through which a passage or outlet defined at least in part by atube may extend into container 300. A valve 382 having an outletcoupling 392 may be coupled to the tube to help regulate the delivery ofgas from the container.

The gas inlet(s) for one embodiment may be coupled to a gas source usingany suitable one or more gas delivery lines. For one embodiment, a flowmeter may optionally be coupled between one or more gas inlets and thegas source to help monitor and/or control the flow rate of gasintroduction into the container. As illustrated in FIG. 9 for one ormore embodiments, inlet coupling 391 for valve 381 may be coupled to aflow meter 932 by a gas delivery line, and flow meter 932 may be coupledto gas source 930 by a gas delivery line. Container 300 may receive anysuitable gas from gas source 930 at any suitable flow rate. Container300 for one or more embodiments may receive any suitable gas at a flowrate in the range of, for example, approximately one standard cubiccentimeter per minute (sccm) to approximately 500 sccm. Container 300for one or more embodiments may receive any suitable gas at a flow ratein the range of, for example, approximately one sccm to approximately1000 sccm.

The gas outlet(s) for one embodiment may be coupled to processequipment, for example, using any suitable one or more gas deliverylines. For one embodiment, a flow meter may optionally be coupledbetween one or more gas outlets and the process equipment to helpmonitor and/or control the flow rate of gas delivery from the container.As illustrated in FIG. 9 for one or more embodiments, outlet coupling392 for valve 382 may be coupled to a flow meter 922 by a gas deliveryline, and flow meter 922 may be coupled to process equipment 920 by agas delivery line.

Gas delivery lines for gas introduction into the container and for gasdelivery from the container may be formed using any suitable material.Such gas delivery line(s) for one embodiment may be formed using anysuitable material, such as stainless steel for example, to allow forhigher temperatures and/or pressures. Such gas delivery line(s) for oneembodiment may be formed using a material having a relatively lowcoefficient of friction, such as a polymer for example, to help allowfor relatively high flow velocities.

The container may be heated in any suitable manner to any suitabletemperature to help vaporize material in the container as gas flowsthrough the container. The temperature at which the container is to beheated for one or more embodiments may depend, for example, on thematerial to be vaporized, on the amount of material to be vaporized, onthe concentration of the vaporized gas, and/or on the operatingconditions of the processing equipment, for example, to which theresulting gas is to be delivered. The temperature for one or moreembodiments may be in the range of, for example, approximately 40degrees Celsius to approximately 300 degrees Celsius.

Any suitable heating equipment may be used to help heat the material tobe vaporized in the container and/or to help regulate the temperature inthe container. As illustrated in FIG. 9, heating equipment 912 for oneor more embodiments may be used to heat container 300. As examples,suitable heating equipment may include, without limitation, a ribbonheater wound around the container, a block heater having a shapecovering the container, a strip heater, a radiant heater, a heatedenclosure, a circulating fluid heater, a resistant heating system,and/or an inductive heating system.

Heating equipment for one embodiment may be supported by and/orintegrated with the container. The container for one embodiment maydefine and/or have any suitable support structure to help support anysuitable heating equipment around, on, and/or in the container in anysuitable manner. Such structure may be integral with and/or coupled tothe container in any suitable manner. The container for one embodimentmay define in any suitable manner one or more cavities of any suitableshape and size in any suitable one or more walls of the container and/orin any suitable one or more lids to help support one or more heatercartridges, for example.

The temperature at any suitable one or more locations around, on, and/orin the container may optionally be monitored for one or more embodimentsto help regulate the temperature in the container. Any suitable one ormore temperature sensing devices may be supported at any suitable one ormore locations around, on, and/or in the container in any suitablemanner. As examples, suitable temperature sensing devices may include,without limitation, a thermocouple, a thermistor, and any other suitabletemperature sensing junction or device arranged for contacting anysuitable thermally conductive surface in the container.

The container for one or more embodiments may be heated in any suitablemanner to help better distribute heat to help vaporize material in thecontainer and/or to help reduce, minimize, and/or avoid cooler locationsor cold spots in the container where vaporized material and/or gasresulting from contact of introduced gas with vaporized material maycondense. For one or more embodiments where solid material is vaporized,reducing, minimizing, and/or avoiding cooler locations or cold spots mayhelp reduce, minimize, and/or avoid forming deposits that could at leastpartially clog or obstruct any suitable one or more passageways throughwhich gas flow is to be directed.

The container for one or more embodiments may be formed using a heatconductive material to help better distribute heat. For one or moreembodiments where one or more holders in a container are formed using aheat conductive material and are defined, positioned, and/or coupled inthe container in thermal contact with the container, heating thecontainer helps to heat such holder(s) and therefore helps increaseheated surface area in the container to help better distribute heat tovaporize material in the container. Such holder(s) for one or moreembodiments may be defined, positioned, and/or coupled in the containerin thermal contact with one or more sidewalls of the container. Thecontainer for one or more embodiments may be heated from one or moresidewalls. For one or more embodiments where such holder(s) have one ormore walls, such as one or more passageway sidewalls for example, and/orsupports formed using a heat conductive material, such wall(s) and/orsupport(s) may also help to increase heated surface area in thecontainer. The container and/or one or more holders for one or moreembodiments may be formed with an increased thermal mass to helpmaintain the heated temperature in the container.

For one or more embodiments where solid material is to be vaporized bysublimation, the vapor pressure of the solid material at a giventemperature is the partial pressure of the solid material at itsvapor/solid interface where the number of molecules in the vaporcondensing on the surface of the solid material is the same as thenumber of molecules in the solid sublimed from the surface of the solidmaterial over a given time period. This equilibrium is disrupted byremoval of molecules in the vapor at the vapor/solid interface due tocontact with gas introduced into the container. Because sublimation willoccur at a higher rate to restore equilibrium provided sufficient heatis supplied to the surface of the solid material to compensate for thelatent heat of sublimation, increasing heated surface area in thecontainer may help increase the rate of vaporization of solid material.For one or more embodiments where vapor from solid material and/or gasresulting from contact of introduced gas with such vaporized materialflows against or near such increased heated surface area, such increasedheated surface area may also help better reduce, minimize, and/or avoidcondensation of the vaporized material and/or the resulting gas.

Any suitable amount of heating power may be used to help vaporizematerial in the container. The amount of power for vaporization ofmaterial in the container may depend on, for example, the chemistry ofthe material to be vaporized, the chemistry of the gas introduced intothe container, and/or the flow rate of the gas resulting from contact ofintroduced gas with vaporized material. For one or more embodiments,heating power may be made available in such an amount that the amount ofheating power absorbed by the resulting gas is a relatively smallfraction of the available heating power, helping to maintain the heatedtemperature in the container. The amount of available heating power forone or more embodiments may be in the range of, for example,approximately 100 watts to approximately 3000 watts.

For one or more embodiments, gas introduced into the container may bepreheated in any suitable manner to any suitable temperature to helpmaintain the heated temperature in the container. Introduced gas may bepreheated depending on, for example, how the container is heated, thelength of the gas delivery line(s) for gas introduction, and/or the flowrate of introduced gas. Any suitable heating equipment may be used tohelp preheat introduced gas and/or to help regulate the temperature ofintroduced gas. For one or more embodiments, any suitable heatingequipment may be used to help heat one or more gas delivery lines forgas introduction into the container.

For one or more embodiments where solid material is to be vaporized, gasmay optionally be directed to flow through any suitable one or morefilters to help prevent any solid material in the gas flow from beingdelivered from the container. Such filter(s) may be supported in and/orby the container in any suitable manner using any suitable structure.For one embodiment, one or more frits may be positioned at or near anend of one or more interior regions of the container to help filter thegas resulting from contact of introduced gas with vaporized materialprior to being delivered from the container. Such frit(s) may be of anysuitable size and shape and may be formed using any suitable porousmaterial of any suitable density. As one example, a frit formed using aporous stainless steel having a pore size in the range of approximately1 micron to approximately 100 microns, for example, may be used for oneembodiment.

As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 3, a generally circularfrit 370 may be positioned over top holder 360 to help filter solidmaterial from gas flow directed over material supported by holder 360prior to delivery through the outlet defined through lid 306. Frit 370may define through a generally central region of frit 370 a generallycircular opening through which tube 305 may extend. Frit 370 forembodiment may be pressed over holder 360 in any suitable manner usingany suitable structure as lid 306 is secured to container 300 to helpseal frit 370 over holder 360. The example embodiment of FIG. 3 for oneembodiment may comprise in addition to or in lieu of frit 370 a fritpositioned in the passage or outlet for gas delivery from container 300and/or one or more frits positioned in one or more passageways throughone or more of holders 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, and 360.

For one or more embodiments, one or more gas delivery lines for gasdelivery from the container to processing equipment, for example, may beheated in any suitable manner to any suitable temperature to helpreduce, minimize, and/or avoid condensation of the resulting gas in suchline(s). One or more gas delivery lines for one embodiment may beheated, for example, to a temperature approximately 5-10 degrees Celsiushotter than that of the container. Any suitable heating equipment may beused to help heat one or more gas delivery lines for gas delivery fromthe container.

For one or more embodiments where gas is introduced at or near a firstend of an interior region of a container and directed to flow toward asecond end of the interior region, material supported toward the firstend may be removed by introduced gas at a faster rate relative tomaterial supported toward the second end. For one or more embodimentswhere a carrier gas is introduced into the container, the carrier gasmay become mostly or fully saturated with vaporized material prior toreaching vaporized material at or near the second end. For one or moreembodiments where a gas is introduced into the container to react withvaporized material, introduced gas may react with vaporized materialprior to reaching vaporized material at or near the second end. For oneor more embodiments, more material may be supported toward the first endand less material may be supported toward the second end to helpcompensate for such disproportionate removal of vaporized material. Forone or more embodiments where a plurality of holders are used to helpsupport material in an interior region of a container, two or more ofsuch holders may optionally be sized and/or spaced to help support morematerial toward the first end and less material toward the second end tohelp compensate for such disproportionate removal of vaporized material.For one or more embodiments where such holders have one or moresidewalls, for example, two or more of such holders may have sidewall(s)of a different height.

For one or more embodiments, any suitable equipment may be used to helpidentify when the container, any suitable one or more holders, and/or abottom surface of an interior region of the container are empty or nearempty of material to be vaporized. For one or more embodiments, suchequipment may be used to help identify when a bottom holder and/or a topholder in an interior region of the container are empty or near empty ofmaterial to be vaporized. For one or more embodiments, such equipmentmay be used to help identify when a bottom surface of an interior regionof the container and/or a top holder in the interior region are empty ornear empty of material to be vaporized.

For one or more embodiments, any suitable level sensor may be used tohelp identify when a holder or a bottom surface of an interior region isempty or near empty of material to be vaporized in any suitable mannerand to signal such identification in any suitable manner. An optical orinfrared level sensor, for example, may be used to direct radiationtoward a reflective support surface over which material to be vaporizedis supported and to detect the reflection of such radiation whenmaterial has been removed from the reflective support surface. As otherexamples, an ultrasonic level sensor, a capacitive level sensor, and/ora rocker switch may be used to help identify when a holder or a bottomsurface of an interior region is empty or near empty of material to bevaporized. As yet another example, an optical or infrared sensor, forexample, may be used to direct radiation through space over materialbeing vaporized and to detect such radiation to help monitor theconcentration of vaporized material in such space.

For one or more embodiments, the container may have one or more sightglasses through which one or more optical and/or infrared sensors maydirect radiation into the container and/or detect radiation from thecontainer to help identify when a holder or a bottom surface of aninterior region is empty or near empty of material to be vaporized. Thecontainer for one or more embodiments may have one or more sight glassesto help allow an operator to identify visually when a holder or a bottomsurface of an interior region is empty or near empty of material to bevaporized.

The container for one or more embodiments may optionally be configuredwith one or more bypass passages and/or one or more additional containerinlets and/or outlets to help purge any solid deposits and/orcontaminants, for example, from one or more container inlets, one ormore container outlets, and/or one or more interior regions of thecontainer. As illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 3, a bypasspassage defined by tubing 395 coupled between valves 381 and 382 may beused to help purge valves 381 and 382, inlet coupling 391, and/or outletcoupling 392. A valve 383 may optionally be coupled to tubing 395 tohelp regulate fluid flow through the bypass passage. An inlet/outletcoupling 397 may optionally be used to help define an additionalinlet/outlet for the interior region of container 300 to help purge theinterior region.

Although described in connection with receiving a gas for contact withvaporized material, vaporizer 110 for one or more alternativeembodiments may not receive any gas but rather may be used as a vapordraw where any suitable material may be vaporized in a container anddelivered to process equipment 120, for example, without being carriedby or reacting with any gas. Vaporizer 110 for one or more of suchembodiment(s) may support material to be vaporized to help increaseexposed surface area of material to be vaporized to help promotevaporization of material.

While the invention has been has been described herein in reference tospecific aspects, features and illustrative embodiments of theinvention, it will be appreciated that the utility of the invention isnot thus limited, but rather extends to and encompasses numerous othervariations, modifications and alternative embodiments, as will suggestthemselves to those of ordinary skill in the field of the presentinvention, based on the disclosure herein. Correspondingly, theinvention as hereinafter claimed is intended to be broadly construed andinterpreted, as including all such variations, modifications andalternative embodiments, within its spirit and scope.

1. A method utilizing a plurality of containers, wherein each containerof the plurality of containers defines a cavity therein, the methodcomprising: introducing source material comprising a solid into thecavity of each container of the plurality of containers; dissolving atleast a portion of the source material in a solvent; removing saidsolvent from said source material; and stacking said plurality ofcontainers in a vaporizer ampoule.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising heating the source material.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising heating the vaporizer ampoule to vaporize at least aportion of the source material.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thestep of removing said solvent from said source material comprises use ofreduced pressure.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising flowing afirst gas to the vaporizer ampoule to contact said source material. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein said source material comprises a metalcomplex.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said source materialcomprises at least one of: boron (B), phosphorous (P), copper (Cu),gallium (Ga), arsenic (As), ruthenium (Ru), indium (In), antimony (Sb),lanthanum (La), tantalum (Ta), iridium (Ir), decaborane (B₁₀H₁₄),hafnium tetrachloride (HfCl₄), zirconium tetrachloride (ZrCl₄), indiumtrichloride (InCl₃), a metal organic β-diketonate complex,cyclopentadienyl cycloheptatrienyl titanium (CpTiChT), aluminumtrichloride (AlCl₃), titanium iodide (Ti_(x)I_(y)), cyclooctatetraenecyclopentadienyl titanium ((Cot)(Cp)Ti), bis(cyclopentadienyl)titaniumdiazide, tungsten carbonyl (W_(x)(CO)_(y)),bis(cyclopentadienyl)ruthenium (II) (Ru(Cp)₂), and ruthenium trichloride(RuCl₃).
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of thesource material is dissolved in the solvent before the source materialis introduced into the cavity.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising vaporizing at least a portion of the source material to formvaporized source material, and flowing the vaporized source materialthrough a filtering element.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein thefiltering element comprises a porous frit.
 11. A vapor delivery systemcomprising: a plurality of containers, wherein each container of theplurality of containers defines therein a cavity, and the cavity of eachcontainer contains a solid source material and a solvent; and avaporizer ampoule adapted to receive said plurality of containers. 12.The vapor delivery system of claim 11, further comprising a solventremoval element arranged to permit removal of solvent from the cavity ofeach container of the plurality of containers.
 13. The vapor deliverysystem of claim 12, wherein the solvent removal element is adapted toreduce pressure within the cavity of each container of the plurality ofcontainers.
 14. The vapor delivery system of claim 11, wherein: thevaporizer ampoule has an ampoule wall; each container has a solid sourcematerial support surface and a thermally conductive container sidewallextending above the solid source material support surface; eachcontainer sidewall is adapted to be in substantial thermal contact withthe ampoule wall at an ampoule operating temperature; and the ampoule isadapted to transfer heat through the ampoule wall to the thermallyconductive container sidewall.
 15. The vapor delivery system of claim11, further comprising a heating element arranged to heat the vaporizerampoule.
 16. The vapor delivery system of claim 11, wherein theplurality of containers embodies a stack of containers disposed withinthe vaporizer ampoule.
 17. The vapor delivery system of claim 11,wherein each solid source material support surface defines a pluralityof gas flow passages.
 18. The vapor delivery system of claim 11, whereinthe vaporizer ampoule includes a gas inlet that is connectable to afirst gas source and is adapted to supply a first gas to the vaporizerampoule.
 19. The vapor delivery system of claim 11, wherein thevaporizer ampoule has an outlet and has an associated filter element,wherein the filter element is arranged to filter vaporized sourcematerial delivered to or through the outlet.
 20. The vapor deliverysystem of claim 19, wherein the filter element comprises a porous frit.21. The vapor delivery system of claim 11, coupled in vapor deliveryrelationship to a process tool adapted to perform at least one step inthe manufacture of a semiconductor device.
 22. A vaporizer comprising:at least one wall defining an internal compartment; and a solid sourcematerial disposed within the internal compartment, the solid sourcematerial comprising a metal complex processed by dissolution in asolvent followed by removal of the solvent under reduced pressure. 23.The vaporizer of claim 22, further comprising a heating element adaptedto supply heat to any of (i) the at least one wall and (ii) the solidsource material.
 24. The vaporizer of claim 22, comprising a pluralityof solid source material holders disposed at different levels within theinternal compartment.
 25. The vaporizer of claim 24, wherein each solidsource material holder includes a solid source material support surfacedefining a plurality of gas flow passages.
 26. The vaporizer of claim24, wherein: the at least one wall comprises a vaporizer ampoule wall;each solid source material holder has a solid source material supportsurface and a thermally conductive holder sidewall extending above thesolid source material support surface; each holder sidewall is adaptedto be in substantial thermal contact with the vaporizer ampoule wall atan ampoule operating temperature; and the ampoule wall is adapted totransfer heat to the thermally conductive holder sidewall.
 27. Thevaporizer of claim 22, wherein the vaporizer includes a gas inlet thatis connectable to a first gas source and is adapted to supply a firstgas to the internal compartment.
 28. The vaporizer of claim 22,comprising an outlet and a filter element, wherein the filter element isarranged to filter vaporized source material delivered to or through theoutlet.
 29. The vaporizer of claim 28, wherein the filter elementcomprises a porous frit.
 30. The vaporizer of claim 22, coupled in vapordelivery relationship to a process tool adapted to perform at least onestep in the manufacture of a semiconductor device.
 31. A methodutilizing a vaporizer including at least one wall defining an internalcompartment, the method comprising: dissolving a solid source materialin a solvent; and removing said solvent to yield a metal complex,wherein the metal complex is disposed within the internal compartment ofthe vaporizer.
 32. The method of claim 31, further comprising vaporizingat least a portion of the metal complex and delivering a resulting vaporto an outlet of the vaporizer.
 33. The method of claim 31, wherein thestep of removing said solvent comprises use of reduced pressure.